At the end of three days of bloody fighting around the town of Gettysburg on July 1, 2, and 3, 1863, over 7,000 soldiers from the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia lay dead upon the battlefield. Over the next six months, several thousand more died of their wounds, sealing their commitment to their respective causes with lives. But death did not silence their voices. Their surgeons, their comrades-in-arms, and their families mourning them in cities and towns stretching from the coasts of Maine to the hill country of Texas picked up the soldiers' stories and shared their lessons with us.
Some of the most profound of those voices emerge from the pension applications submitted by new widows and newly-appointed guardians of fatherless children, by bereaved mothers and even--on occasion--by their fathers. The families of Confederate dead could submit claims to collect a one-time payment of all pay and allotments still due their fallen soldier. In the North, the Congress passed legislation in July 1862 to establish a pension system for the support of the survivors of fallen Union soldiers, but it could not have foreseen the complications and challenges each individual case might present for its highly legalistic administrative processes for the awarding of a monthly support check usually amounting to $8 for the families of enlisted men. The families and friends of the Gettysburg slain tell yet one more important--and underappreciated--part of the Army Story.
Length: 74 Minutes
Lecture Date: June 19, 2013
28 окт 2024
